Zoom enabled millions of people to do their jobs, take classes and socialize remotely during the height of the pandemic. But in recent months, the company joins a growing number of tech companies that have told employees to return to the office after promoting flexible and remote policies. Companies say office work increases collaboration, a sense of culture and ultimately promotes collaboration and innovation. Some executives have even threatened termination for employees who don’t follow the new policies. But many workers are pushing back on the office policies with some going as far as quitting their jobs over the change.
Zoom calls its plan a “structured hybrid” policy, which requires employees who live in a 50 mile radius of an office to return two days a week. The two days are determined by each teams. But Zoom said even with the policy in place, 65 percent of workers are still remote because many don’t live near an office. The company also said it’s not focused on how it plans to enforce the policy, rather it’s dealing with employee issues on a case-by-case basis.
“There have been people who say this [policy] is a problem, and we want to work with them,” Matthew Saxon, chief people officer at Zoom, said in an interview. “For us, it’s making sure we give people flexibility when they need it.”
But workers across the industry who have been called back to the office argue that these policies don’t work for everyone. Some struggle with caregiving responsibilities, transportation issues, costs or have trouble working in the office due to disabilities or the environment. Many say they are more successful working remotely and believe office mandates are driven by employers trying to gain more control, despite the spin they put on it.
Since Zoom began returning to the office, Saxon said the company has already seen benefits. On the first day that product engineering teams were back in the office, they identified enhancements for Zoom’s in-office products such as its workspace reservation system. It likely wouldn’t have been noticed had none of them used the product in-person, Saxon said.
“That does speak to the importance for us to walk in the shoes of our customers in a direct way,” he said.
The company admits it’s early days in determining the success of the office strategy. Saxon declined to comment on how well the policy was being adopted by those required to return — only saying that those who received the earliest of the mandates are now starting to adjust. He also said the company is conducting quarterly surveys to measure employee satisfaction and is still trying to determine how to measure productivity and success as it relates to the policy.
Saxon couldn’t completely rule out the chance that the company may choose to increase in-office days. However, it might change in totally different ways, too.
“We will be continually evolving ways of working based [on how workers succeed],” he said.
But not all hybrid plans offer enough flexibility, said Prithwiraj Choudhury, a Harvard Business School professor, who studies the future of work. Choudhury’s research shows that often, the most effective plans allow teams to decide the frequency and locations of when they should meet in person.
“It’s a good thing for a tech company developing tools for hybrid work to also experience it,” Choudhury said. “But why do you want to have such a limited and rigid version of it? Let teams decide what works.”
Choudhury also said policies that only affect some people and not others can create two classes of workers, which can lead to mistrust and miscommunications.
At its annual conference, Zoom pushed products beyond its video conferencing tool aiming to position itself as the go-to product for the way work has changed. It introduced its Zoom Docs, explored its recently debuted artificial intelligence features and highlighted its team chat, phone and customer service products. It also showed off its in-office products that include room reservation systems and improvements to video conferences in hybrid meetings. For example, Zoom’s software can now identify people within a conference room to give them their own dedicated box on a screen and soon include their name tag alongside.
Smita Hashim, Zoom’s chief product officer, said the biggest challenge has been communicating the message about all of Zoom’s capabilities.
“Zoom is the home where you start [work], where you connect and collaborate,” she said. “You can do quite a bit more things on it” than just video conference.
Zoom isn’t betting on any model as the winner of the future of work. Instead, executives believe every company will choose what works best for them, and Zoom will have to build products accordingly.
“In office is not going way, remote is not going away, and hybrid isn’t going away,” Saxon said. “Our job is going to be to understand all the use cases and have solutions for all needs.”
